<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
I mailed the following letter to General Mills.
Feel free to send your own version of this letter to them.
Take care,
Megan
Friday, August 04, 2006
General Mills, Inc.
P.O. Box 9452
Minneapolis, MN 55440
The following message went out to thousands of people on
an international listserv for people afflicted with a
wheat gluten intolerance. I hope that the information is
incorrect, but what this mesage tells me is that from week
to week or month to month General Mills' cereal (namely
Cocoa Puffs) may change from containing corn to wheat.
This policy makes it very difficult for your
wheat-intolerant consumers! Certainly it is easy for the
manufacturers and distributors to say "always read the
label", but how pracitcal is that? Furthermore, are you
not worried about cross-contamination between batches?
One in every 133 people in the US has celiac disease, and
many of us rely on "safe" brands. Sure - we routinely read
labels that other people can take for granted, but how
frustrating to have to put the box back on the shelf half
of the time.
The policy of "buying the cheapest grains" in order to
better serve General Mills causes the celiac population
(and all others with wheat intolerances or allergies) to
stop in their tracks.
How nice it would be to have a bowl of "normal" cereal!
Your policy on label and grain-switching makes it an
almost reality for us... how agonizing is that?
Consider a corn-only line, and label your boxes "gluten
free".
Celiac awareness and therefore celiac diagnoses are on the
rise. Gluten-free is becoming a way of life for many, many
people and for those of us with celiac disease our health
and well-being will depend on this diet for the rest of
our lives.
Thanks,
Megan Tichy
From: {consumer}
Sender: Celiac/Coeliac Wheat/Gluten-Free List
Subject: COCOA PUFFS
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 15:21:49 -0400
Hi everyone--
My son has been enjoying cocoa puffs since I got the
e-mail pointing out the GF ingredients..However, last time
in the store we rechecked the ingredients and wheat starch
was included in the ingredients. I called General Foods
and she said the ingredients can change at any time
depending on the buy on grains that they make. She said
the ingredient list is correct so go by the box for each
time you buy. I went out to the store to but as many boxes
with the corn base as I could. Just a warning to be
careful. {consumer}
-----
Catching up with the recent posts to the listserv, I was
curious to read
regarding this cereal, which my celiac toddler also
[initially] began to
enjoy after I had seen it identified as being GF and had
confirmed its GF
status for my first purchase.
However, I did NOT check the ingredients on subsequent
purchases. (He
REALLY liked eating Cocoa Puffs!) He had been diagnosed
just over 1 year
ago, with modest improvement in symptoms (constipation,
lethargy,
"clinginess", tiredness, etc.) upon initiation of the GF
diet. He had
negative antibodies at 6 months after extremely high
anti-endomysial and
t-TG values upon diagnosis. Going on one year out from
his diagnosis and
eating GF, he had dramatically improved in energy level
and disposition, as
well as growth, with little to no constipation. He was
a
different boy!
And then we noticed that he started acting like he did
when he was
diagnosed. The only thing we could identify as having
changed was the
addition of Cocoa Puffs, which we thought should have
been OK. Nonetheless,
we stopped the Cocoa Puffs, thinking that perhaps it
could be a
cross-contamination issue with General Mills. And he is
now returning to
his improved self, which I would attribute to either or
both of a
cross-contamination issue / ingredient change, as
reported in the recent
post.
It was good to see some corroborating information to our
anecdotal
experience. Thank you!
Visit the Celiac Web Page at Http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC
|
